Lynds in Real Life

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Health

How To Stop Your Emotions Getting The Better of You in Any Situation

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Being emotional is not a bad thing. Having emotions often means we are fully experiencing life, and that we aren’t emotionally stunted. However, just because we have strong emotions doesn’t mean we need to have outbursts, alienate those close to us, or create problems in other ways. Emotions are there for us to learn, and understand what triggers us. In fact, the things that trigger us often do so because they remind us of a time we felt similarly when we were younger. If you’re struggling with your emotions and you believe they are getting the better of you, let’s take a look at how you can stop this from happening:

Figure Out If There’s A Problem You Need To Address

Having strong emotions is not the issue – it’s an issue when they are causing you trouble in your life. For example, your emotions may be:

  • Causing trouble with your friends
  • Making it difficult to relate to other people
  • Causing trouble at work 
  • Giving you an urge to use substances to dull down your emotions
  • Causing outbursts that you struggle to control 

Remember, This is About Regulation

You’re not trying to repress your emotions, you’re simply trying to regulate them. If you try to prevent yourself from feeling your emotions because they are too difficult to deal with, you may experience anxiety, sleep issues, muscle tension, depression, and more. You need to find a healthy balance when it comes to feeling and expressing your emotions – not feeling any emotion at all is a cause for concern and could mean you’re just sweeping them under the rug and hoping they will disappear. 

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Label What You’re Feeling

  • What are you feeling? – are you feeling confused, anxious, or irritated? Try to get specific. 
  • What has made you feel this way? – a friend made a comment that triggered you and made you feel stupid, for example. 
  • Does the situation have a different explanation that could make sense? – your friend may not have realized that a certain subject was sensitive for you, and may have genuinely meant no harm. ]
  • What do you initially want to do to cope with these feelings? – perhaps you want to snap at your friend, or say something hurtful to them. 
  • Is there a healthier way you can cope with these feelings? – if you don’t feel calm enough or ready to address right away that what your friend said upset you, try going for a walk or stepping away until you can explain why you’d prefer they don’t do it again. 

Accept Your Emotions 

There’s nothing worse than getting into the habit of feeling guilty for having feelings and beating yourself up over and over again. Accepting your emotions is key. Oftentimes, kids are made to feel silly for having emotions. We need to realize that emotions are healthy. 

Test Various Coping Mechanisms

Some people find it helpful to go for a run when they feel stressed. Some people like to roll up a newspaper and hit a pillow. Others meditate. Some take supplements and try water bongs. You might like to try a few of these things. What works for you will always vary to what works for another. 

Give Yourself A Little Space

Remember, it’s ok to leave a situation that you find upsetting until you are ready to deal with it. Try distracting yourself until you don’t feel as intensely – just make sure you do come back to your feelings. Don’t sweep them under the rug!

Thank you for reading!

Health

9 Things That Can Affect Your Mental Health

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Have you ever experienced or been affected by mental illness? If you are struggling or you know someone who is, you may find that it’s fairly overwhelming to see all of the treatment options in front of you. Before you can go for any treatment, you first need to know the things that are affecting your mental health. This can be just as stressful to figure out as anything else.

You cannot treat mental health issues with lifestyle changes alone. In fact, you should look at the right treatment options for your current mental health, and go from there. Your physical health can be a big factor in how good or bad your mental health is. For example, you can learn more about how your hearing affects your mental health and find that you are feeling isolated because you are struggling to hear. It’s important that you know what the issues are so you can improve things. Though changes to your lifestyle alone won’t work, you can still make lifestyle changes and bind them together with professional treatment. Below, we’ve put together a list of nine things that can affect your mental health.

Grayscale Photography of Woman Touching Her Eyes

Image Source: Pexels

Lack of Exercise
You need to move to feel healthy, and if you stop moving properly, you will start to feel it and more than just in your body. Your mental health can suffer when you don’t get moving enough. Exercise brings you social options, the chance to burn a little adrenaline and the chance to focus on your weight. Exercise has been proven to be as effective as medication, and it can help you to reduce pain, too. There’s no magical amount of exercise you should be doing, but you should do enough to make your heart rate rise a little.

Smoking

Smoking is a common habit for those with mental health issues. Therapists would recommend smoking as a way to alleviate stress, but of course, we know that smoking affects your lungs and your blood vessels. Quitting smoking is a challenge, but the chance to focus on your health will improve your mental health. Quitting smoking will benefit your mental health in just a few short weeks. You’re not taking in those toxins anymore, and your moods will improve as you are not relying on the cigarettes to see you through.

Bad Diet

Food is not (by definition) medicine, and there are a range of foods that you might eat that make you feel awful. Unhealthy choices in excess can make you feel sluggish and fatigued. With the right minerals and vitamins in your food, you can boost your mood and your brain power (and use the good food as medicine!).

Poor Physical Health

Mind and body work together in sync. When your physical health is poor, your mental health suffers as a result. Some physical health conditions can affect your brain and this can lead to depression.

Loss of Hearing

Believe it or not, your hearing can affect your mental health. A lack of hearing can isolate you and affect you socially, and this is not what you want to worry about. Speaking to an audiologist can help you to assess your hearing health and you can feel a marked improvement in your mental health, too.

Lack Of Socializing

As with hearing issues, you will find your mental health suffers when you have no social time. Friendship can make a huge difference to your life, and the way in which you perceive the world around you is better when you have good friends surrounding you. If you have a busy social life, even just hobbies to get involved in around other people, your mental health will improve.

Abusive Relationships

Are you being gaslighted? Manipulated? Ignored? All of this behavior can affect your mental health, and you can see many studies that prove that healthy relationships help us to think better and be better. Toxic relationships can be devastating to your mental health.

Meditating

A positive one! Your mental health can be positively impacted when you meditate and have calmness in your life. Make sure that you are indulging in deep breathing regularly.

Great Sleep

Another positive one! A good night of sleep can make a big difference to your mental health. Sticking to a good sleeping routine can make all the difference to you, and it will mean you feel physically and mentally healthier!

Thank you for reading!

Health

3 Simple Steps To Help You Achieve Ultimate Relaxation

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2020 has seen many of us experience higher levels of stress, and more regular stress, than any year before. Why? Well, on top of the usual stress we’d experience as part of our day to day lives, we’ve all been dealing with the consequences of the global coronavirus and Covid-19 pandemic. This pandemic has added a whole host of extra stressors to our daily experiences, ranging from health concerns to concerns for vulnerable loved ones to money worries.

This extra added stress threatens our overall happiness, health and wellbeing with physical, emotional and behavioral consequences. Physical consequences can range from headaches, to muscle tension, fatigue, sleep problems, and more. Emotional consequences can include anything from anxiety to irritability, restlessness, sadness and a lack of motivation. This can all result in behavioral consequences, such as emotional outbursts, undereating, overeating, withdrawal and worse.

So, if you’re starting to feel stressed, it’s time to take action and to actively implement relaxation into your day to day life. Here are some ideas that could help you to achieve this!

  1. Consider Massage

If you’re in an area where massage is permitted under Covid-19 restrictions and guidelines, it could be a great place to start when it comes to alleviating tension, relaxing yourself, and generally making you feel a whole lot less stressed. Massage is a practice that can really help when it comes to releasing the tension that you’re likely to feel when stressed. When you go for a massage, a professional and qualified massage therapist will rub and knead your muscles and joints, relieving tension and pain as they go. On the whole, this process often proves to be deeply calming and relaxing. Not only does the massage itself help, but the majority of spas that hold massages will ensure that they’re carried out in a truly soothing atmosphere and environment, often dimming lighting and playing calming music or sounds while the massage takes place. Just make sure to book the right type of massage! A sports massage, for example, serves as a form of therapy and can be harsher and even painful. Instead, opt for a relaxation massage, which will better suit your needs.

2. Try Calming Teas

Now, this may seem unbelievable, but a warm cup of tea really can help you to relax and can soothe you. Many of us feel a real sense of comfort when drinking any warm drink and there are specific teas out there that are supposed to give extra calming elements in every cupful. If you’re sensitive to caffeine, you may want to seek out caffeine-free teas for the best results. Some of the most calming teas include:

  • Green tea
  • Chamomile tea
  • Peppermint tea
  • Lemon balm tea
  • Valerian root tea

3. Practice Mindfulness

If you haven’t yet heard of mindfulness, or simply haven’t considered giving it a try yourself, you should consider it now. Mindfulness is by no means a new practice. In fact, it’s been practiced around the world for centuries. But it has only become popular and widely practiced in Western culture in more recent years. Put simply, mindfulness is a practice that will help you to become aware of everything that’s going on around you, but that will encourage you to let all of these things pass without judgement. It can help you to stop worrying and focusing on the negative in life and can radically alter your mindset, helping you become more optimistic and hopeful. Of course, you may struggle to get used to practicing mindfulness at first, but don’t worry or doubt yourself. There are countless free online tutorials and apps available online that can introduce you to the basics and really help you to get to grips with mindfulness. These tutorials can increase in difficulty as you progress, guiding you through your journey and significantly changing your life!

Of course, if you’re feeling overwhelmed with stress and are struggling to cope with it, we’d highly recommend that you reach out for professional help and assistance. This could be in the form of a doctor or a therapist. Generally speaking, it’s best to first reach out to a doctor, who can diagnose any underlying conditions that could be contributing to your stress and refer you on for therapy or provide medication – or implement a combination of the two approaches. Otherwise, if your stress is less consuming, hopefully, some of the above suggestions will help you out!

Thank you for reading!

Health

Three Types of Therapy That Will Change Your Life

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Although more and more people are attending therapy in this day and age, it is still an undiscovered game-changer for many people. Most people consider therapy to be something you attend when you are severely mentally ill, or have undergone a huge, devastating blow, like the death of a loved one. Similarly, there are certain types of therapy, such as ESDM therapy, designed for autistic children, which is highly specialized for individuals with certain conditions. While it is true that therapy is necessary for those situations, anyone and everyone can benefit from having a therapist. We all carry trauma, although some people carry more and others less, and we all have unhealthy habits or mentalities which would benefit from being challenged.

 If you have never considered going to therapy, here are three types of therapy which will change your life for the better. 

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  1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy, also known as CBT, is a very popular form of therapy worldwide. It consists of a trained therapist having one-on-one sessions with a patient who is experiencing any kind of difficulties with their thoughts, emotions or interactions with others – such as depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, paranoia or guilt. This type of therapy seeks to help the patient understand what thoughts are, how they operate and how our brains can form patterns of thinking. If you are having anxious thoughts all the time, eventually your brain will automatically go down the anxiety route when anything happens. CBT seeks to help your brain un-learn all of the negative cognitive behaviors in your brain and learn fresh, rational ways of thinking. It involves making diaries and doing cognitive exercises with your therapist. 

  1. EMDR Therapy 

EMDR therapy, standing for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a form of therapy which involves consciously replicating the REM stages of sleep with a therapist. When we sleep, our eyes move backwards and forwards under our lids – this is called REM, rapid eye movement, and it allows our brain to process what has happened over the day. 

If we go through a particularly traumatic experience, our brains can’t process it properly using REM. So instead it gets stored away unprocessed, and can return to us in the form of PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, which can involve flashbacks and panic attacks. EMDR therapy involves thinking about the experience, bringing it to the front of your mind, and moving your eyes back and forth as if you were in the REM stages of sleep. It helps us process traumatic events. 

  1. Talk Therapy

Sometimes the best way to deal with a difficult event is through talking. If you are going through the death of a loved one or another emotional event, talking therapy can allow you to gush out all your feelings that have been bottled up, with a licensed therapist who can help you rationalize and process the feelings. This can help alleviate anxiety, stress and feelings of guilt you have held inside, and allow you to heal and move on more quickly. 

•Have you tried any of these methods of therapy? I swear by EMDR!

Thank you for reading!

Health

5 Signs You’re Close To Burning Out

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Human beings can only take so much stress and physical exertion. If you’re constantly pushing your body and mind to the limits, you’ll eventually burn out.

Nobody wants to reach this ‘burn-out’ stage – you’ll either get to a point where you don’t want to get up in the morning or you’ll have a nervous breakdown. You could even push yourself to the point of physical illness or self-harm if you’re not careful.

Below are five signs that you may be getting close to burning out (and what you can do to prevent this).

You feel physically and emotionally exhausted

Physical and emotional exhaustion are a clear sign that you’ve been pushing yourself too hard. This is likely from denying yourself free time, and possibly even sacrificing sleep to juggle responsibilities.

You constantly feel restless – even after accomplishing a task

People on the brink of burn-out often feel as if they have an ever-growing queue of tasks to complete. As a result, when one task is accomplished, you may not feel any sense of gratitude, because there are still so many tasks left to take on.

You no longer see the value of certain responsibilities

Certain responsibilities may have lost the value that they once held. In most cases, people stop caring about their job. The idea of meeting targets and impressing customers may all seem meaningless. Similarly, you may start to see no value in doing tasks such as housework or exercise.

You feel like the quality of everything you do is slipping

You may feel that you’re constantly making mistakes or cutting corners to get things done. While you may just about be staying on top of things, there could be a sense that nothing is being done as well as you’d like.

Any free time you get is spent recovering

Instead of doing anything productive with your free time, you could find that any free time you get is spent recovering – you may not want to do anything more than nap or watch the TV. Even this recovery time may not be enough, causing exhaustion to continue building up.

How to prevent burnout

Think that you may be on the brink of a burn-out? If you act now, you may be able to prevent things getting any worse. Here are just a few ways to prevent burn-out.

Allow others to take some of the strain

Consider the responsibilities that you are juggling and whether there is any way of getting support. If parenthood is getting on top of you, consider asking someone to babysit regularly to take some of the strain off. If caring for aging loved ones is taking up a lot of your energy, you could consider looking into hospice care. At work meanwhile, there may be tasks that you can delegate to colleagues or get help with.  

Set clear boundaries

Try to keep clear boundaries between work and family life. Make sure that you’re finishing work at a certain time so that you can spend enough time with your family. Similarly, make sure that family life isn’t interfering with your work performance.

Avoid being a perfectionist

Perfectionists are often more prone to burn-out because they invest huge amounts of time ensuring that all the details are attended to. Not all these details may be necessary – it could be time to prioritize what is important.

Eliminate unhealthy sources of stress

Your stress could be due to an overly demanding employer or a toxic partner that expects too much of you. It could be time to quit your job or leave your partner to help eliminate the burden.   

•Are you feeling burned out? What do you do to try to remedy that?

Thank you for reading!

Health

4 Wellness Tips to Keep You At Your Healthiest

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You should always take your health seriously, and if you haven’t been up until this point, then now is the time to start. No more sitting back and thinking that your health is always going to be okay no matter what you do, because this simply isn’t the case. By not addressing your health and making sure you’re doing everything in your power to keep it in good shape, you are potentially harming yourself. As such, we’re going to be looking at some wellness tips in this article so that you can stay as healthy as you can be. Keep reading down below if you want to find out more.

Pay Attention to What You Eat

You should always pay attention your diet. Everyone has different preferences, different allergies, and that is why what works for one is not going to work for all. You’ve got to create a balanced diet based around what you do eat, and this can be harder than you think. If you are struggling, then you can always talk to a professional, such as a nutritionist, who will be able to help you come up with some fantastic ideas for meals that will keep you within your limits. 

It is important that you learn a whole range of ways to cook so that you’re not getting bored with what you are eating. Everything is okay in moderation, so don’t feel like you can’t eat something that you want

just because it isn’t considered healthy. However, when you can, the healthy snacks are going to be the best. For example, you could learn how to roast pumpkin seeds, add these to a meal, or simply eat them on their own. There are so many tasty snacks out there that you could discover if you just open your mind a little more.

Speak To A Medical Professional

Medical professionals have studied for years to get where they are, so you should see them if you think there is something wrong. Even if you just suspect that something is up because you have a hunch, it is always going to be a case of better safe than sorry. You don’t want to not see someone, and then down the line figure out you have an illness that could have been treated earlier, and more effectively. These people are here to help you, so let them do their job and keep you in the best possible health.

Even if you don’t think there is anything wrong with you, you should still be seeing your doctor every six months for a check-up. You never know, there are some silent illnesses out there that don’t have any symptoms, so the only way to know they are there is with tests. You need to be fully informed about your health as well, so if you do have any questions, make sure you ask them.

What About Your Mental Health?

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health, so you’ve got to be taking care of that too. If you notice that something isn’t quite right, take some kind of action. Speak to someone, make a lifestyle change of some sort, or whatever you think is best at the time. Mental health can be tricky, but there are measures in place to ensure that nobody has to suffer on their own. Another scary thing about mental health is that it can start to impact your physical health if it is left unchecked. You could notice things like tiredness, headaches, upset stomach, and a whole range of other symptoms that are linked to your mental health.

Talk to someone, whether that is someone you trust or a professional. A problem shared is a problem halved, and once you’re not dealing with it on your own anymore, everything seems a little more manageable.

Dare You To Move

Finally, we dare you to move. Exercise is crucial to maintaining your health because if you’re not careful, your muscles are going to lose mass, making you weak. Even something as simple as walking for half an hour per day is good enough to keep this away. You can complete higher intensity workouts if you like depending on what your goal is, but the minimum is to go for a walk at least four times per week.

We hope that you have found this article helpful. You should now know some of the best wellness tips that will keep you as healthy as possible. Put these into practice, and your health should stay in good condition, hopefully, for years to come.

Thank you for reading!

Health

Reducing Feelings of Stress in Your Day to Day Life

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We all feel stress from time to time. It’s a natural response to potentially dangerous or threatening situations or experiences. However, problems arise when you experience stress all of the time or on a regular basis. Not only can it make you feel uncomfortable, but it can have a detrimental and long term impact on both your physical and mental wellbeing. Here are just a few different ways you can reduce feelings of stress in your day to day life!

See a Therapist

If you feel you may be suffering from anxiety or stress as a side effect of another mental health condition, it’s important that you reach out to a therapist, who will be able to diagnose you and provide you with relevant treatment (therapists often can not prescribe medication, just fyi). If you feel stressed for any reason, therapy can still be good for you. Really, therapy is good for anyone and everyone! A psychiatrist is different from a therapist. A psychiatrist is a medical specialist who can help to get you on a better path to happiness, contentment, and improved overall wellbeing, usually through the use of medication.

Seek Other Support

If you’re reluctant to reach out for professional help straight away, there are other sources of support out there. This can include support groups and helplines, where you can speak to others who have had similar experiences and can guide you on your journey towards feeling better. It can also help to talk to family or friends you can trust and who can support you. As the saying goes, a problem shared is a problem halved.

Keeping a Journal

Keeping a journal is a private version of talking therapy. It gives you a space where you can organize your thoughts and really get to grips with how you’re feeling. If you put all of your problems on paper, you may find it easier to resolve them in an organized and thought out manner. Keeping a journal is also a good way of tracking your mood over time. You can see how things have progressed and this can also help to identify key points where you’re feeling stressed.

Trying CBD

CBD can have positive effects on your body in regards to lifting your mood and alleviating feelings of stress or anxiety. It is a natural product, sourced from the hemp plant. It actively alters your serotonin levels without intoxicating you. For more information, visit PearlCBD.

Avoid Procrastination

Now, this step is definitely easier said than done. But chances are, if you’re stressed or anxious about something, you will put it off. This is a standard response to stressful situations or circumstances – you want to avoid them at all costs. But the truth is, when you put off these situations, they simply cause you further stress. They won’t go away until you face them head on. If you’re putting off work, you’ll just become increasingly stressed knowing that your deadline is looming closer and closer. If you’re putting off an awkward conversation, your unhappiness will simply grow until you face it. Avoid procrastination at all costs!

These are just a few simple changes you can implement into your lifestyle to make it a little more stress free. Try them out! They could really help you.

What helps you to de-stress?

Thank you for reading!

Health

Steps to Safeguarding Your Health

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These days we are all tending to live longer, and through medical breakthroughs and advances in technology, we aren’t getting as sick as we may have in the past. We tend to have better places to live, access to good food, clean water, and have a support system around us. All of which can go a long way to helping us to really thrive. However, with an increased life expectancy comes some more challenges to us, and as a result, we need to take charge a lot more and take on some responsibility for our health. 

We have so much going on in life, from our family life, social commitments, work, and other responsibilities, that we can put our health on the back burner. It might not seem as urgent as cleaning the house, meeting a deadline, or getting the kids lunches packed, but it can mean that we don’t take action or make changes until it is too late. So as a result, we need to make sure that we are taking some steps to safeguard our health and do all that we can to make sure that we are looking after ourselves and improving our health and well-being.

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Have regular checkups

If you want to look after yourself and look after your health, then looking at it in a preventive way is one of the best things that you can do. Conditions like cancer, diabetes, and hearing problems can be spotted early and dealt with, as long as you are having the right kind of check-ups and are going to these appointments regularly. See your doctor about the check-ups that you will need to have, as well as getting help to fix your hearing aids or get your eyes checked, with the right professional. Leave things too late in a lot of cases, and the damage has already been done.

Monitor mental health

In the day and age we live in, it is great that there is a much more open conversation about mental health. The good news is that being open and talking about it can help you to feel better, or to help you to get the help that you need. If you are feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed, and feel those ways in a pretty much constant state, then it will be wreaking havoc on your health in a variety of other ways. It could lead to you feeling exhausted, irritable, sad, lonely, and stop you from being active or eating well. So keep an eye on things, and make sure that you reach out if you are feeling low. There are some things you can do to help yourself too, take a look at meditation apps, learn about mindfulness or check out this Neckrelax Review to see if this is something that could be right for you. 

Keep your brain active

Keeping your brain active is something that is good at any age really. But as we get older, our brain function can quite rapidly decline if we let it. There are some aspects of genetics that are out of our control, however we can do things to help. Reading regularly, staying active, doing puzzles, and taking up hobbies are all good ideas to help your brain to stay active and focused. 

•How do you safeguard your health?

Thank you for reading!

Health Lifestyle

Top Tips For A Happier 2020

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Sitting down and making those painstakingly difficult New Year’s Resolution Lists, that last a matter of days, sometimes only hours…is not something we relish. It’s good to make lists; we can’t deny that list-making and being proactive and organized is the key to a healthy mind and less stress. However, when it comes to making changes, it can be a little trickier to muster up the strength. Here are some tips of how to make a positive change in the New Year, because I do believe that we all endeavor to make at least the first few months of any New Year, a positive, life-changing, goal-making, dream-creating one. Mostly. Right?

Photo: Pixabay

Get Out More

Another way to get out and about would be to take an hour off on the weekend with a friend or family member, and go swimming or play your favorite sport. You’ll be amazed how good sports are as a bonding session with your friends and family (hello sand volleyball)!

Getting out doesn’t necessarily mean going out socializing every night, burning the candles at both ends, and spending an exorbitant amount of money that you don’t have, just to say ‘you’ve been out.’ While socializing is a very important part of keeping a healthy mind and attitude towards life, there are ways of doing it without breaking the bank after Christmas. Inviting some friends round, having/cooking dinner together, and catching up… it can be difficult to find energy for that if you work 9-5.

If you work from home, try taking a long walk in your area before you sit down to work; it gets the blood going, gives you a little bit of energy, and releases endorphins: and then you’re engaged in your body and mind, ready for the day! If you are struggling with anxiety, it could be good to look for a therapist and they can assist you with getting out and about. 

Planning Ahead

Keeping a planner is essential anyway, especially for someone who has a million errands to run week by week and is trying to juggle a social life, possibly a relationship, and maybe even children all in one. However, planning ahead is one sure way to make you feel more positive in the moment. If you plan a nice evening meal a few weeks in advance, maybe even a break to the city or even just a shopping trip; you always have little things in the pipeline to look forward to, which I find has always kept a healthy happy mind. The feeling of excitement is my absolute favorite! Being spontaneous is also incredible but for people who find their lives to be mundane, especially after the comedown of the Christmas period, then making sure you get things down on your calendar in advance can be a little trick to keep you feeling higher and not lower. We all have those moments of panic, freak out, mental breakdown, and feeling as if life is taking a nosedive. It’s not. You can always elevate yourself somehow, and remember of course, you are never alone!

Be Thoughtful

Doing a little good deed can make you feel on top of the world. This does not have to include money, and sometimes, it may not even need much time, but being thoughtful to others, and spreading a little bit of joy, and a touch of sparkle into someone’s life can be fulfilling. Little things, such as leaving sweet, kind post-its on your colleagues’ desks, or sending someone a text whom you haven’t spoken to in a while, or even an e-card through email, just to make someone smile when they open it, are all simple, yet impactful gestures. You could smile at strangers (I always do- is it a Midwest thing?), give a bit of spare change to a homeless person, even a few quarters or dollars, look for some bargains in the charity shops and support a good cause (NOT Goodwill), or even just compliment a stranger. Everyone loves a good compliment! Striving to be content is vital, and it all comes from within yourself.

•How do you take care of your mental and emotional health? What do you want to improve in 2020?

Thank you for reading!

Health

The Best Ways to Reduce Anxious Feelings

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Life can’t always be a metaphorical sunny stroll in the park; no matter where you come from, how much you earn, or how successful you are, there will be low moments. And studies have shown that low moments, especially those related to mental health conditions, are on the rise. Anxiety, to name just one example, is perhaps more common today than at any other period of history. While we all experience a few anxious nerves from time to time, if it’s beginning to influence your everyday life, then it’s important that you take steps to reduce those feelings. We take a look at a few ways to do this below. 

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Calm Your Mind

There are some tried and tested methods for calming your mind that have been shown to have a profoundly positive impact on anxiety. Perhaps the best method of all is meditation — this is the process of sitting still, counting your breaths, and waiting for the magic to happen. If it sounds simple, that’s because it is. Yet the simple process brings big rewards. You might notice the effects on the first day, but no worries if you don’t — things will be happening under the surface, and sooner rather than later you’ll find that you’re feeling calmer and happier.

In the Outdoors

We’ve normalized life in the city, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s normal. In terms of our biological makeup, it might be wrong. Now, no-one’s suggesting that you should pack up your belongings and move to the woods, but it is important that you get your fill of nature time. Studies have shown that simply surrounding yourself with natural life can have a hugely positive impact on your anxiety levels, so be sure to build some nature time into your schedule, even if it’s just for an hour or two a week.

Tried and Tested Products

You don’t have to go through your battle with anxiety all alone. There are plenty of products and foods that can help, too. For example, did you know that there are scents that can put you into a more relaxed state of mind? It’s true, so look at investing in an essential oil diffuser, and stock up on your favorites. You can mix anxiety-reducing foods with CBD isolate, available from CBD Flower Isolate, too. Dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, fatty fish, and Brazil nuts have all been shown to have a positive effect on anxiety, for example. 

Limit the Triggers

It’s also recommended that you take a look at your lifestyle, and see if you’re doing anything that might induce anxiety. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and having an overly sedentary lifestyle, for example, can all bring about feelings of anxiety. Cut down on these things, and you might just find that the number of anxious moments you experience begins to reduce. 

Take a Walk

Finally, put faith in the trusty walk around the block! It helps clear your head and calms you down. You will most likely feel better afterward! 


Thank you for reading!

This post was a collaboration.